{"id":1139,"date":"2013-07-13T01:32:51","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=1139"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:32:51","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:32:51","slug":"62-a-postscript-chapter-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15\/62-a-postscript-chapter-vol-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","title":{"rendered":"-62_A Postscript Chapter.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n


\nA Postscript Chapter<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\n<\/font> <\/span>A<\/font><\/b>T<\/font><\/span> <\/b>THE time when this book was being <\/span>brought to its close, the
\nfirst attempt at the foundation of some initial hesitating beginning of the new
\nworld-order, which both governments and peoples had begun to envisage as a
\npermanent necessity if there was to be any order in the world at all, was under
\ndebate and consideration but had not yet been given a con<\/span>crete and practical form; but this had to come and
\neventually a momentous beginning was made. It took the name and appearance of
\nwhat was called a League of Nations. It was not happy in its conception,
\nwell-inspired in its formation or destined to any considerable longevity or a
\nsupremely successful career. But that such an organised endeavour should be
\nlaunched at all and proceed on its way for some time without an early breakdown
\nwas in itself an event of capital importance and meant the initiation of a new
\nera in world history; especially, it was an initiative which, even if it
\nfailed, could not be allowed to remain without a sequel but had to be taken up
\nagain until a successful solution has safeguarded the future of mankind, not
\nonly against continued disorder and lethal peril but against destructive
\npossibilities which could easily prepare the collapse of civilisation and
\nperhaps eventually something even that could be described as the suicide of the
\nhuman race. Accordingly, the League of Nations disappeared but was replaced by
\nthe United Nations Organisation which now stands in the forefront of the world
\nand struggles towards some kind of secure permanence and success in the great
\nand far-reaching endeavour on which depends the world’s future.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>This is the
\ncapital event, the crucial and decisive outcome of the world-wide tendencies
\nwhich Nature has set in motion for her destined purpose. In spite of the
\nconstant shortcomings of human effort and its stumbling mentality, in spite of
\nadverse possibilities that may baulk or delay for a time the success of this
\ngreat adventure, it is in this event that lies the determination of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-556<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n


\nwhat<\/font><\/span>
\nmust be. All the catastrophes that have attended this course of events and seem
\nto arise of purpose in order to prevent the working out of her intention have
\nnot prevented, and even further catastrophes will not prevent, the successful
\nemergence and development of an enterprise which has become a necessity , for
\nthe progress and perhaps the very existence of the race. Two stupendous and
\nworld-devastating wars have swept over the globe and have been accompanied or
\nfollowed by revolutions with far-reaching consequences which have altered the
\npolitical map of the earth and the international balance, the once fairly
\nstable equilibrium of five continents, and changed the whole ‘",<\/span> future. A third still more
\ndisastrous war with a prospect of the use of weapons and other scientific means
\nof destruction far more fatal and of wider reach than any ever yet invented,
\nweapons,<\/span> whose<\/span> far-spread use might bring down civilisation with a crash
\nand whose effects might tend towards something like extermination on a large
\nscale, looms in prospect; the constant apprehension of it weighs upon the mind
\nof the nations and stimulates them<\/span>
\ntowards further preparations for war and creates an atmosphere<\/span> of prolonged antagonism, if not
\nyet of conflict, extending to what is called "cold war" even in times
\nof peace. But the two wars<\/span> that
\nhave come and gone have not prevented the formation of the first and second
\nconsiderable efforts towards the beginning of an attempt at union and the
\npractical formation of a concrete<\/span>
\nbody, an organised instrument with that object: rather they have<\/span> caused and hastened this new
\ncreation. The League of Nations came into being as a direct consequence of the
\nfirst war, the D.N.O. similarly as a consequence of the second world-wide
\nconflict. If the third war which is regarded by many if not by most as
\ninevitable does come, it is likely to precipitate as inevitably a further step
\nand perhaps the final outcome of this great world-endeavour. Nature uses such
\nmeans, apparently opposed and dangerous {to her intended purpose, to bring
\nabout the<\/span> fruition of that
\npurpose. As in the practice of the spiritual science and art of Yoga one has to
\nraise up the psychological possibilities which are there in the nature and
\nstand in the way of its spiritual perfection and fulfilment so as to eliminate
\nthem, even, it may be, the sleeping possibilities which might arise in<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-557<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

future to break the work that has been done, so too
\nNature acts with the world-forces that meet her on her way, not only calling up
\nthose which will assist her but raising too, so as to finish with them, those
\nthat she knows to be the normal or even the unavoidable obstacles which cannot
\nbut start up to impede her secret will. This one has often seen in the history
\nof mankind; one sees it exampled today with an enormous force commensurable
\nwith the magnitude of the thing that has to be done. But always these
\nresistances turn out to have assisted by the resistance much more than they
\nhave impeded the intention of the great Creatrix and her Mover.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>We may then
\nlook with a legitimate optimism on what has been hitherto achieved and on the
\nprospects of further achievement in the future. This optimism need not and
\nshould not blind us to undesirable features, perilous tendencies and the
\npossibilities of serious interruptions in the work and even disorders in the
\nhuman world that might possibly subvert the work done. As regards the actual
\nconditions of the moment it may even be admitted that most men nowadays look
\nwith dissatisfaction on the defects of the United Nations Organisation and its
\nblunders and the malignancies that endanger its existence and many feel a
\ngrowing pessimism and regard with doubt the possibility of its final success.
\nThis pessimism it is unnecessary and unwise to share; for such a psychology
\ntends to bring about, to make possible the results which it predicts but which
\nneed not at all ensue. At the same time, we must not ignore the danger. The
\nleaders of the nations, who have the will to succeed and who will be held
\nresponsible by posterity for any avoidable failure, must be on guard against
\nunwise policies or fatal errors; the deficiencies that exist in the organisation
\nor its constitution have to be quickly remedied or slowly and cautiously
\neliminated; if there are obstinate oppositions to necessary change, they have
\nsomehow to be overcome or circumvented without breaking the institution;
\nprogress towards its perfection, even if it cannot be easily or swiftly made,
\nmust yet be undertaken and the frustration of the world’s hope prevented at any
\ncost. There is no other way for mankind than this, unless indeed a greater way
\nis laid open to it by the Power that guides through some delivering turn<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-558<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

or change in human will or human nature or some sudden
\nevolutionary progress, a not easily foreseeable leap, saltus, <\/i>which will
\nmake another and greater solution of our human destiny feasible.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>In the first
\nidea and form of a beginning of world-union which took the shape of the League
\nof Nations, although there were errors in the structure such as the insistence
\non unanimity which tended to sterilise, to limit or to obstruct the practical
\naction and effectuality of the League, the main defect was inherent in its
\nconception and in its general build, and that again arose naturally and as a
\ndirect consequence from the condition of the world at that time. The League of
\nNations was in fact an oligarchy of big Powers each drawing behind it a retinue
\nof small States and using the general body so far as possible for the
\nfurtherance of its own policy much -more than for the general interest and the
\ngood of the world at large. This character came out most in the political
\nsphere, and the manoeuvres and discords, accommodations and compromises
\ninevitable in this condition of things did not help to make the action of the
\nLeague beneficial<\/span> or effective
\nas it purposed or set out to be. The absence of America and the position of
\nRussia had helped to make the final ill-success of this first venture a natural
\nconsequence, if not indeed unavoidable. In the constitution of the D.N.O. an
\nattempt was made, in principle at least, to escape from these errors; but the
\nattempt was not thorough-going and not altogether successful. A strong
\nsurviving element of oligarchy remained in the preponderant place assigned to
\nthe five great Powers<\/span> in the
\nSecurity Council and was clinched by the device of the veto; these were
\nconcessions to a sense of realism and the necessity of recognising the actual
\ncondition of things and the results of the second great war and could not
\nperhaps have been avoided, but they have clone more to create trouble, hamper
\nthe action and diminish the success of the new institution than any- 1<\/span> thing<\/span>
\nelse in its make-up or the way of action forced upon it by the world situation
\nor the difficulties of a combined working inherent in its very structure. A too
\nhasty or radical endeavour to get rid of these defects might lead to a crash of
\nthe whole edifice; to leave them unmodified prolongs a malaise, an absence of
\nharmony and smooth working and a consequent discredit and<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-559<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

a sense of limited and abortive action, cause of the widespread feeling
\nof futility and the regard of doubt the world at large has begun to cast on
\nthis great and necessary institution which was founded with such high hopes and
\nwithout which world condi\u00adtions would be infinitely worse and more dangerous,
\neven perhaps irremediable. A third attempt, the substitution of a differently
\nconstituted body, could only come if this institution collapsed as the result
\nof a new catastrophe: if certain dubious portents fulfil their menace, it might
\nemerge into being and might even this time be more successful because of an
\nincreased and a more general determination not to allow such a calamity to
\noccur again; but it would be after a third cataclysmal struggle which might
\nshake to its foundations the international structure now holding together after
\ntwo upheavals with so much difficulty and unease. Yet, even in such a
\ncontingency, the intention in the working of Nature is likely to overcome the
\nobstacles she has herself raised up and they may be got rid of once and for
\nall. But for that it will be necessary to build, eventually at least, a true
\nWorld-State without exclusions and on a principle of equality into which
\nconsiderations of size and strength will not enter. These may be left to
\nexercise whatever influence is natural to them in a well-ordered harmony of the
\nworld’s peoples safe\u00adguarded by the law of a new’ international order. A sure
\njustice, a fundamental equality and combination of rights and interests must be
\nthe law of this World-State and the basis of its entire edifice.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>The real danger at the present
\nsecond stage of the progress towards unity lies not in any faults, however
\nserious, in the building of the United Nations Assembly but in the division of
\nthe peoples into two camps which tend to be natural opponents and might at any
\nmoment become declared enemies irreconcilable and even their common existence
\nincompatible. This is because the so-called Communism of Bolshevist Russia came
\nto birth as the result, not of a rapid evolution, but of an unprecedentedly
\nfierce and prolonged revolution sanguinary in the extreme and created an
\nautocratic and intolerant State system founded upon a war of classes in which
\nall others except the proletariat were crushed out of existence,
\n"liquidated," upon a "dictatorship of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-560<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the\u00a0
\n<\/span>proletariat\u201d or rather of a narrow but all-powerful party system acting
\nin its\u00a0 <\/span>name, a police state, and a
\nmortal struggle with the outside world; the fierceness of this struggle
\ngenerated in the minds of the organisers of the new state a fixed idea of the
\nnecessity not only of survival but of continued struggle and the spread of its
\ndomination until the new order had destroyed the old or evicted it, if not from
\nthe whole earth, yet from the greater part of it and the imposition of a new
\npolitical and social gospel or its general acceptance by the world\u2019s peoples.
\nBut this condition of things might change, lose its acrimony and full
\nconsequence, as it has done to some degree, with the arrival of\u00a0 <\/span>security and the cessation of the first ferocity,
\nbitterness and exasperation of the conflict; the most intolerant and oppressive
\nelements of the new order might have been moderated and the sense of
\nincompatibility or inability to live together or side by side would then have
\ndisappeared and a more secure modus vivendi <\/i>been made possible. If much
\nof the unease, the sense of inevitable struggle, the difficulty of mutual
\ntoleration and economic accommodation till exists, it is rather because the
\nidea of using the ideological struggle as a means for world domination is there
\nand keeps the nations in a position of mutual apprehension and preparation for
\narmed defence and attack than because the coexistence of the two ideologies is
\nimpossible. If this element is eliminated, a world in which these two
\nideologies could live together, arrive at an economic interchange, draw closer
\ntogether, need not be at all out of the question; for the world is moving
\ntowards a greater development of the principle of State control over the life
\nof the community, and a congeries of socialistic States on the one hand, and on
\nthe other, of States co-ordinating and controlling a modified Capitalism might
\nwell come to exist side by side and develop friendly relations with each other.
\nEven a World-State in which both could keep their own institutions and sit in a
\ncommon assembly might come into being and a single world-union on this
\nfoundation would not be impossible. This development is indeed the final
\noutcome which the foundation of the U.N.O. presupposes; for the present
\norganisation cannot be itself final, it is only an imperfect beginning useful
\nand necessary as a primary nucleus of that larger<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-561<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

institution in which all the peoples of the earth can
\nmeet each other in a single international unity: the creation of a World- State
\nis, in a movement of this kind, the one logical and inevitable ultimate
\noutcome.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>This view
\nof the future may under present circumstances be stigmatised as a too facile
\noptimism, but this turn of things is quite as possible as the more disastrous
\nturn expected by the pessimists, since the cataclysm and crash of civilisation
\nsome- times predicted by them need not at all be the result of a new war.
\nMankind has a habit of surviving the worst catastrophes created by its own
\nerrors or by the violent turns of Nature and it must be so if there is any
\nmeaning in its existence, if its long history and continuous survival is not
\nthe accident of a fortuitously self. organising Chance, which it must be in a
\npurely materialistic view of the nature of the world. If man is intended to
\nsurvive and carry forward the evolution of which he is at present the head and,
\nto some extent, a half-conscious leader of its march, he must come out of his
\npresent chaotic international life and arrive at a beginning of organised
\nunited action; some kind of World-State, unitary or federal, or a confederacy
\nor a coalition he must arrive at in the end; no smaller or looser expedient
\nwould adequately serve the purpose. In that case, the general thesis advanced
\nin this book would stand justified and we can foreshadow with some confidence
\nthe main line of advance which the course of events is likely to take, at least
\nthe main trend of the future history of the human peoples.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The question now put by evolving
\nNature to mankind is whether its existing international system, if system it
\ncan be called, a sort of provisional order maintained with constant
\nevolutionary or revolutionary changes, cannot be replaced by a willed and
\nthought-out fixed arrangement, a true system, eventually a real unity serving
\nall the common interests of the earth’s peoples. An original welter and chaos
\nwith its jumble of forces forming, wherever it could, larger or smaller masses
\nof civilisation and order which were in danger of crumbling or being shaken to
\npieces by attacks from the outer chaos was the first attempt at cosmos
\nsuccessfully arrived at by the genius of humanity. This was finally replaced by
\nsomething like an international system<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-562<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

with the elements of what could be called international
\nlaw or fixed habits of intercommunication and interchange which allowed the
\nnations to live together in spite of antagonisms and conflicts, a security
\nalternating with precariousness and peril and permitting of too many ugly
\nfeatures, however local, of oppression, bloodshed, revolt and disorder, not to
\nspeak of wars which sometimes devastated large areas of the globe. The
\nindwelling deity<\/span> who presides
\nover the destiny of the race has raised in man’s mind and heart the idea, the
\nhope of a new order which will ,\\<\/span>
\nreplace the old unsatisfactory order, and substitute for it conditions of the
\nworld’s life which will in the end have a reasonable chance of establishing
\npermanent peace and well-being. This would for the first time turn into an
\nassured fact the ideal of human unity which, cherished by a few, seemed for so
\nlong a noble chimera; then might be created a firm ground of peace and harmony
\nand even a free room for the realisation of the highest human dreams, for the
\nperfectibility of the race, a perfect society, a higher upward evolution of the
\nhuman soul and human nature. It is for the men of our day and, at the most, of
\ntomorrow to give the answer. For, too long a postponement or too continued a
\nfailure will open the way to a series of increasing catastrophes which might
\ncreate a too prolonged and disastrous confusion and chaos and render a solution
\ntoo difficult or impossible; it might even end in something like an
\nirremediable crash not only of the present world-civilisation but of all
\ncivilisation. A new, a difficult and uncertain beginning might have to be made
\nin the midst of the chaos and ruin after perhaps an extermination on a large
\nscale, and a more successful creation could be predicted only if a way was
\nfound to develop a better humanity or perhaps a greater, a superhuman race.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>The central
\nquestion is whether the nation, the largest natural unit which humanity has
\nbeen able to create and maintain for its collective living, is also its last
\nand ultimate unit or whether a greater aggregate can be formed which will
\nenglobe many and even most nations and finally all in its united- totality. The
\nimpulse to build more largely, the push towards the creation of considerable
\nand even very vast supranational aggregates has not been wanting; it has even
\nbeen a permanent feature in the<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-563<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

life-instincts of the race. But the form it took was
\nthe desire of a strong nation for mastery over others, permanent possession of
\ntheir territories, subjugation of their peoples, exploitation of their
\nresources: there was also an attempt at quasi-assimilation, an imposition of
\nthe culture of a dominant race and, in general, a system of absorption
\nwholesale or as complete as possible. The Roman Empire was the classic example
\nof this kind of endeavour and the Graeco-Roman unity of a single way of life and
\nculture in a vast framework of political and administrative unity was the
\nnearest approach within the geographical limits reached by this civilisation to
\nsomething one might regard as a first figure or an incomplete suggestion of a
\nfigure of human unity. Other similar attempts have been made though not on so
\nlarge a scale and with a less consummate ability throughout the course of
\nhistory, but nothing has endured for more than a small number of centuries. The
\nmethod used was fundamentally unsound inasmuch as it contradicted other
\nlife-instincts which were necessary to the vitality and healthy evolution of
\nmankind and the denial of which must end in some kind of stagnation and
\narrested progress. The imperial aggregate could not acquire the unconquerable vitality
\nand power of survival of the nation-unit. The only enduring empire-units have
\nbeen in reality large nation-units which took that name like Germany and China
\nand these were not forms of the supranational State and need not be reckoned in
\nthe history of the formation of the imperial aggregate. So, although the
\ntendency to the creation of empire testifies to an urge in Nature towards
\nlarger unities of human life, – and we can see concealed in it a will to unite
\nthe disparate masses of humanity on a larger scale into a single coalescing or
\ncombined life-unit, – it must be regarded as an unsuccessful formation without
\na sequel and un- serviceable for any further progress in this direction. In
\nactual fact a new attempt of world-wide domination could succeed only by a new
\ninstrumentation or under novel circumstances in englobing all the nations of
\nthe earth or persuading or forcing them into some kind of union. An ideology, a
\nsuccessful combination of peoples with one aim and a powerful head like
\nCommunist Russia, might have a temporary success in bringing about such an
\nobjective. But such an outcome, not very desirable in<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-564<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

itself, would not be likely to ensure the creation of
\nan enduring World-State. There would be tendencies, resistances, urges towards<\/span> other developments which would
\nsooner or later bring about its collapse or some revolutionary change which
\nwould mean<\/span> its disappearance.
\nFinally, any such stage would have to be overpassed; only the formation of a
\ntrue World-State, either of a unitary but still elastic kind, – for a rigidly
\nunitary State might bring about stagnation and decay of the springs of life, – <\/span>or a union of free peoples could
\nopen the prospect of a sound and lasting world-order.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It is not necessary to repeat or
\nreview, except in certain directions, the considerations and conclusions set
\nforward in this book with regard to the means and methods or the lines of
\ndivergence or successive development which the actual realisation of human
\nunity may take. But still on some sides possibilities have<\/span> arisen which call for some modification of what has been
\nwritten or the conclusions arrived at in these chapters. It had been concluded,
\nfor instance, that there was no likelihood of the conquest and unification of
\nthe world by a single dominant people or empire. This is no longer altogether
\nso certain, for we have just had to admit the possibility of such an attempt
\nunder certain circumstances. A dominant Power may be able to group round itself
\nstrong allies subordinated to it but still considerable in strength and
\nresources and throw them into a world struggle with other Powers and peoples.
\nThis possibility would be in- creased if the dominating Power managed to
\nprocure, even if only for the time being, a monopoly of an overwhelming superiority
\nin the use of some of the tremendous means of aggressive military action which
\nScience has set out to discover and effectively utilise. The terror of
\ndestruction and even of large-scale extermination created by these ominous
\ndiscoveries may bring about a will in the governments and peoples to ban and
\nprevent the military use of these inventions, but, so long as the nature of
\nmankind has not changed, this prevention must remain uncertain and precarious
\nand an unscrupulous ambition may even get by it a chance of secrecy and
\nsurprise and the utilisation of a decisive moment which might conceivably give
\nit victory and it might risk the tremendous chance. It may be argued that the
\nhistory of<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-565<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

the last war runs counter to this possibility, for in conditions
\nnot quite realising but approximating to such a combination of circumstances
\nthe aggressive Powers failed in their attempt and underwent the disastrous
\nconsequences of a terrible defeat. But after all, they came for a time within a
\nhair’s breadth of success and there might not be the same good fortune for the
\nworld in some later and more sagaciously conducted and organised ad- venture.
\nAt least, the possibility has to be noted and guarded against by those who have
\nthe power of prevention and the welfare of the race in their charge.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>One of the
\npossibilities suggested at the time was the growth of continental agglomerates,
\na united Europe, some kind of a combine of the peoples of the American
\ncontinent under the leadership of the United States, even possibly in the
\nresurgence of Asia and its drive towards independence from the dominance of the
\nEuropean peoples a drawing together for self-defensive combination of the
\nnations of this continent; such an eventuality of large continental combinations
\nmight even be a stage in the final formation of a world-union. This possibility
\nhas tended to take shape to a certain extent with a celerity that could not
\nthen be anticipated. In the two American continents it has actually assumed a
\npredominating and practical form, though not in its totality. The idea of a
\nUnited States of Europe has also actually taken shape and is assuming a formal
\nexistence, but is not yet able to develop into a completed and fully realised
\npossibility because of the antagonism based on conflicting ideologies which
\ncuts off from each other Russia and her satellites behind their iron curtain
\nand Western Europe. This separation has gone so far that it is difficult to
\nenvisage its cessation at any foreseeable time in a predictable future. Under
\nother circumstances a tendency towards such combinations might have created the
\napprehension of huge continental clashes such as the collision, at one time
\nimagined as possible, between a resurgent Asia and the Occident. The acceptance
\nby Europe and America of the Asiatic resurgence and the eventual total
\nliberation of the Oriental peoples, as also the downfall of Japan which figured
\nat one time and in- deed actually presented itself to the world as the
\nliberator and leader of a free Asia against the domination of the West, have<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-566<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

removed this dangerous possibility. Here again, as
\nelsewhere, the actual danger presents itself rather as a clash between two
\nopposing ideologies, one led by Russia and Red China and trying to impose the
\nCommunistic extreme partly by military and partly by forceful political means
\non a reluctant or at least an infected but not altogether willing Asia and
\nEurope, and on , the other side a combination of peoples, partly capitalist,
\npartly moderate socialist who still cling with some attachment to the idea of
\nliberty, – to freedom of thought and some remnant of the free life of the
\nindividual. In America there seems to be a push, especially in the Latin
\npeoples, towards a rather intolerant completeness of the Americanisation of the
\nwhole continent and the adjacent islands, a s9rt of extended Monroe Doctrine,
\nwhich might create friction with the European Powers still holding possessions
\nin the northern part of the continent. But this could only generate minor
\ndifficulties and disagreements and not the possibility of any serious
\ncollision, a case perhaps for arbitration or arrangement by the U.N.O., not any
\nmore serious consequence. In Asia a more perilous situation has arisen,
\nstanding sharply across the way to any possibility of a continental unity of
\nthe peoples of this part of the world, in the emergence of Communist China.
\nThis creates’ a gigantic bloc which could easily englobe the whole of Northern
\nAsia in a combination between two enormous Communist Powers, Russia and China,
\nand would overshadow with a threat of absorption South- Western Asia and Tibet
\nand might be pushed to overrun all up to the whole frontier of India, menacing
\nher security and that of , Western Asia with the possibility of an invasion and
\nan over- running and subjection by penetration or even by overwhelming military
\nforce to an unwanted ideology, political and social institutions and dominance
\nof this militant mass of Communism whose push might easily prove irresistible.
\nIn any case, the continent would be divided between two huge blocs which might
\nenter into active mutual opposition and the possibility of a stupendous
\nworld-conflict would arise dwarfing anything previously experienced: the
\npossibility of any world-union might even with- out any actual outbreak of
\nhostilities be indefinitely postponed by the incompatibility of interests and
\nideologies on a scale<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-567<\/font><\/p>\n

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\n

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which would render their inclusion in a single body
\nhardly realisable. The possibility of a coming into being of three or four continental
\nunions, which might subsequently coalesce into a single unity, would then be
\nvery remote and, except after a world- shaking struggle, hardly feasible.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>At one time
\nit was possible to regard as an eventual possibility the extension of Socialism
\nto all the nations; an inter- national unity could then have been created by
\nits innate tendencies which turned naturally towards an overcoming of the
\ndividing force of the nation-idea with its separatism and its turn towards
\ncompetitions and rivalries often culminating in open strife; this could have
\nbeen regarded as the natural road and could have turned in fact into the
\neventual way towards world- union. But, in the first place, Socialism has under
\ncertain stresses proved to be by no means immune against infection by the
\ndividing national spirit and its international tendency might not survive its
\ncoming into power in separate national States and a resulting inheritance of
\ncompeting national interests and necessities: the old spirit might very well survive
\nin the new socialist bodies. But also there might not be or not for a long time
\nto come an inevitable tide of the spread of Socialism to all the peoples of the
\nearth: other forces might arise which would dispute what seemed at one time and
\nperhaps still seems the most likely outcome of existing world tendencies; the
\nconflict between Communism and the less extreme socialistic idea which still
\nrespects the principle of liberty, even though a restricted liberty, and the
\nfreedom of conscience, of thought, of personality of the individual, if this
\ndifference perpetuated itself, might create a serious difficulty in the
\nformation of a World-State. It would not be easy to build a constitution, a
\nharmonised State-law and practice in which any modicum of genuine freedom for
\nthe individual or any continued existence of him except as a cell in the
\nworking of a rigidly determined automatism of the body of the collectivist
\nState or a part of a machine would be possible or conceivable. It is not that
\nthe principle of Communism necessitates any such results or that its system
\nmust lead to a termite civilisation or the suppression of the individual; it
\ncould well be, on the contrary, a means at once of the fulfilment of the
\nindividual and the<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-568<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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\nperfect<\/font><\/span>
\nharmony of a collective being. The already developed systems<\/span> which go by the name are not really Communism but
\nconstructions of an inordinately rigid State Socialism. But Socialism itself
\nmight well develop away from the Marxist groove and evolve less rigid modes; a
\nco-operative Socialism, for in- stance, without any bureaucratic rigour of a
\ncoercive administration, of a Police State, might one day come into existence,
\nbut the generalisation of Socialism throughout the world is not under ~<\/span> existing circumstances easily
\nforeseeable, hardly even a predominant possibility: in spite of certain
\npossibilities or tendencies r<\/span> created<\/span> by recent events in the Far
\nEast, a division of the earth between<\/span>
\nthe two systems, capitalistic and socialistic, seems for the present a more likely
\nissue. In America the attachment to "<\/span>
\nindividualism and the capitalistic system of society and a strong antagonism
\nnot only to Communism but to even a moderate Socialism remains complete and one
\ncan foresee little possibility of any abatement in its intensity. The extreme
\nsuccess of\u00a0 <\/span>Communism creeping over the
\ncontinents of the Old World, which we have had to envisage as a possibility, is
\nyet, if we consider<\/span> existing
\ncircumstances and the balance of opposing Powers, highly improbable and, even
\nif it occurred, some accommodation would still be necessary, unless one of the
\ntwo forces gained an overwhelming eventual victory over its opponent. A
\nsuccessful accommodation would demand the creation of a body in which all questions
\nof possible dispute could be solved as they arose<\/span> without any breaking out of open conflict, and this would be a<\/span> successor of the League of
\nNations and the U.N.O. and move in the same direction. As Russia and America,
\nin spite of the constant opposition of policy and ideology, have avoided so far any<\/span> step that would make the
\npreservation of the U.N.O. too difficult or impossible, this third body would
\nbe preserved by the same<\/span>
\nnecessity or imperative utility of its continued existence. The same forces
\nwould work in the same direction and a creation of an<\/span> effective world-union would still be possible; in the end
\nthe mass of general needs of the race and its need of self- preservation could
\nwell be relied on to make it inevitable.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>There is
\nnothing then in the development of events since the establishment of the United
\nNations Organisation, in the sequel<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-569<\/font><\/p>\n

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\n

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to the great initiation at San Francisco of the
\ndecisive step to- wards the creation of a world-body which might end in the
\nestablishment of a true world-unity, that need discourage us in the expectation
\nof an ultimate success of this great enterprise. There are dangers and
\ndifficulties, there can be an apprehension of conflicts, even of colossal
\nconflicts that might jeopardise the future, but total failure need not be
\nenvisaged unless we are disposed to predict the failure of the race. The thesis
\nwe have undertaken to establish of the drive of Nature towards larger
\nagglomerations and the final establishment of the largest of all and the ultimate
\nunion of the world’s peoples still remains unaltered: this is evidently the
\nline which the future of the human race demands and which conflicts and
\nperturbations, however immense, may delay, even as they may modify greatly the
\nforms it now promises to take, but are not likely to prevent; for a general
\ndestruction would be the only alternative destiny of mankind. But such a
\ndestruction, whatever the catastrophic possibilities balancing the almost
\ncertain beneficial results, hardly limitable in their extent, of the recent
\ndiscoveries and inventions of Science, has every chance of being as chimerical
\nas any early expectation of final peace and felicity or a perfected society of
\nthe human peoples. We may rely, if on nothing else, on the evolutionary urge and,
\nif on no other greater hidden Power, on the manifest working and drift or
\nintention in the World-Energy we call Nature to carry mankind at least as far
\nas the necessary next step to be taken, a self-preserving next step: for the
\nnecessity is there, at least some general recognition of it has been achieved
\nand of the thing to which it must eventually lead the idea has been born and
\nthe body of it is already calling for its creation. We have indicated in this
\nbook the conditions, possibilities, forms which this new creation may take and
\nthose which seem to be most desirable without dogmatising or giving prominence
\nto personal opinion; an impartial consideration of the forces that work and the
\nresults that are likely to ensue was the object of this study. The rest will
\ndepend on the intellectual and moral capacity of humanity to carry out what is
\nevidently now the one thing needful.<\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/font> <\/span>We conclude
\nthen that in the conditions of the world at present, even taking into
\nconsideration its most disparaging<\/font><\/p>\n

\nPage-570<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n

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features and dangerous possibilities, there is nothing
\nthat need alter<\/span> the view we have
\ntaken of the necessity and inevitability of some kind of world-union; the drive
\nof Nature, the compulsion of circumstances and the present and future need of
\nmankind make it inevitable. The general conclusions we have arrived at will
\nstand and the consideration of the modalities and possible forms or lines of
\nalternative or successive development it may take. The ultimate result must be
\nthe formation of a World-State and the most desirable form of it would be a
\nfederation of free nationalities in which all subjection or forced inequality
\nand subordination of one to another would have disappeared and, though some
\nmight preserve a greater natural influence, all would have<\/span> an equal status. A confederacy would give the greatest
\nfreedom to the nations constituting the World-State, but this might give too
\nmuch room for fissiparous or centrifugal tendencies to operate; a federal order
\nwould then be the most desirable. All else would be determined by the course of
\nevents and by general agreement or the shape given by the ideas and necessities
\nthat<\/span> may grow up in the future.
\nA world-union of this kind would have the greatest chances of long survival or
\npermanent existence. This is a mutable world and uncertainties and dangers
\nmight assail or trouble for a time; the formed structure might be subjected to
\nrevolutionary tendencies as new ideas and forces emerged and produced their
\neffect on the general mind of humanity, but the essential step would have been
\ntaken and the future of the race assured or at least the present era overpassed
\nin which it is threatened and disturbed by unsolved needs and difficulties,
\nprecarious conditions, immense upheavals, huge and sanguinary world-wide
\nconflicts and the threat of others to come. The ideal of human unity would be
\nno longer an unfulfilled ideal but an accomplished fact and its preservation
\ngiven into the charge of the united human peoples. Its future destiny would lie
\non the knees of the gods and, if the gods have a use for the continued
\nexistence of the race, may be left to lie there safe.<\/font><\/p>\n

\nTHE END<\/font><\/p>\n

\n <\/font>Page-571<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Postscript Chapter   \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 AT THE time when this book was being brought to its close, the first attempt at the foundation of some…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-15-social-and-political-thought-volume-15","wpcat-25-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1139\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}